William Leslie was a missionary to the Congo.
You might not have heard of him.
! Anybody heard of him?
Most people haven't.
He was from Ontario, Canada.
He was a pharmacist until he was converted in 1888.
Then he moved to Chicago.
He had a growing desire to tell people the good news of the gospel
and a growing desire as a medical missionary.
He started serving in the Congo in 1893.
In 1905, he and his wife Carly pioneered a work in Koala, Angola.
There he overcame a hurricane and more mundane obstacles
like charging buffalo and armies of ants.
Seven years later, they cleared enough of a leopard-infested jungle
along the Koala River for a new mission station to be opened in Kanga.
Some villages surrounding that station in Kanga
were still practicing cannibalism.
They spent 17 years, Mr and Mrs Leslie, in that place,
proclaiming the gospel.
It ended on a really rocky note.
William Leslie had a relational falling out with the tribal leaders
and he was asked to leave the mission field
without seeing any fruit from his ministry.
It didn't end like he'd hoped.
He went back to the US after 17 years, a discouraged man.
He believed he'd failed to make an impact for Christ.
He died nine years later.
Failure hurts, doesn't it?
Failure hurts.
It is common to all who seek to serve the Lord.
That feeling that you've failed
and you've not achieved the grand vision of glory
that you set out for yourself in early days as a Christian.
All the times you hoped you'd be able to share your faith
and you were unable to do it.
It hurts when you remember those times.
It hurts when you remember the times you've not owned,
you've not stood up for the name of Christ in the workplace.
It hurts when you've been asked a question
and you've completely messed up the answer.
It hurts, doesn't it,
when you've failed to do the things that you dreamed you would do.
Failure hurts.
And it's very, very common.
Jesus said,
Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
But it doesn't feel like that often.
Often we're crushed, aren't we,
by the expectation that we've placed upon ourselves
how often we have failed the Lord.
It's far easier, isn't it,
for you and I to remember the times of failure.
Isn't it?
And so how does this passage help us with that?
I've got three points.
The first point is this.
Paul, the apostle,
is smashed against the rocks in this passage.
Paul is smashed across the rocks in this passage.
I think the theme of the book of Acts,
the melodic line of Acts,
is one of wonderful encouragement,
that the church of Jesus Christ is unstoppable,
that the risen Lord Jesus Christ is building his church.
And as I've studied it,
and as you've heard it preached,
I hope you felt,
wouldn't it have been marvellous to go along with Paul
in some of those exciting parts of his journey?
Imagine being on the road to Damascus
when he's knocked off his horse
and he sees Jesus,
the risen Jesus,
in all his glory.
How exciting it would have been to follow him
when he preached at the Areopagus in Athens
and thousands of people listened to him.
Many people converting to Christ.
Imagine what it would have been like
to be with Paul in Ephesus
in those two years,
every lunchtime,
him arguing, debating,
preaching Christ.
Many people are coming to believe the word of the Lord.
Go to Acts 2 and Pentecost.
Thousands of people added to the church in one day.
The church exploding with growth.
In Ephesus, shaking the foundations of the economy.
But there have also been tough times,
haven't there?
Times when he was beaten up.
Times when he was left for dead.
Times when he was cast out of the city.
Times of amazing gospel fruit
and yet difficulties.
But exciting.
Acts 23 is not one of those passages.
If you could follow Paul anywhere,
you wouldn't want to follow him to Jerusalem.
And then on to Rome,
at least where he is now.
He's gone through a difficult time.
Do you remember last week?
He'd longed to go to Jerusalem.
He'd got this offering for the church there
from Gentile Christians to the needy church
and he arrives in Acts 22
and he gets a warm welcome at the beginning.
But then he begins to hear about Christians
who don't trust him,
who don't believe his motives to the needy church.
They think that he's trying to subvert God's law.
So James and him come up with this plan.
They come up with this plan
to convince the Jewish church
that Paul is a bona fide Jew
to the core.
He shaves off his head.
He goes to the temple.
He takes a vow.
He purifies himself.
And they hope that this is going to sort out
the division in the church.
But it's seen by someone
and they start to tell lies about him.
They say, look, here is a guy
who sought to bring a Gentile,
a non-Jew, into the temple,
which was forbidden.
And then an angry mob
drags him out to the streets
and they try to rip him to pieces
with their bare hands.
They throw rocks at him.
They try to maul him to death.
He's rescued by the Romans
because they want to prevent a riot.
Amazingly, he's able to stand up and preach.
Normally, in Paul's ministry,
when he starts to preach,
things get better.
He stands up to preach.
Loads of people become Christians.
But that isn't what's happened
in Acts 22.
At the start, everyone listens.
But at the end,
by the time he finishes,
they're baying for his blood.
There's no convergence here.
This is not a successful sermon.
They want him dead
and anything they can do
to grab their hands on him,
they throw at him.
The Romans snatch him away
and he ends up in a Roman barracks,
strung up,
and he's about to be whipped and scourged.
He's about to be tortured by the Romans
and he's saved by the skin of his teeth
because he's a Roman citizen.
And instead of being set free,
he's thrown into prison overnight
to face his accusers the next day.
It's not a great week
in the life of the Apostle Paul.
And that's where chapter 23 begins.
And it's at this point
we see a man under stress
and there's cracks in his armour.
He's shown remarkable restraint.
But in chapter 23,
he's brought to face his accusers
in the Sanhedrin.
And in verse 1,
looking intently at the accusers,
Paul says,
Brothers, I've lived my life
before God
in all good conscience
up to this day.
But then verse 2,
he's struck on the mouth
by the order of an unknown figure.
And Paul snaps.
You get the sense he's had enough.
Remember, he's been beaten,
he's been flogged,
he's been thrown in prison.
And then he says this,
he says,
God is going to strike you,
you whitewashed wall.
And you sit there judging me.
Are you sitting there
to judge me according to the law?
And yet contrary to the law,
you strike me.
He snaps.
He calls this Pharisee or Sadducee
a whitewashed wall.
What he says, in fact,
is not wrong.
But it's a brutal insult.
It's a way of talking about a tomb,
a decaying course.
It's the worst of insults
you can give to a religious leader
in that day.
He flings it at him.
And then he discovers
that it's the high priest
who gave this order.
And he very quickly repents.
Can you imagine
how it would have felt
to repent before that crowd
to say I got it wrong?
I did not know, brothers,
that this was the high priest
for it is written,
you shall not speak evil
of a ruler of your people.
It's not a great start
and things get worse.
He's probably at the end of his rope.
He doesn't know what to do.
He shouts probably
the most divisive thing
you can shout
in a room where there's Pharisees
and a room where there's Sadducees.
He says,
brothers,
I'm a Pharisee,
a son of Pharisees.
It is with respect
to the hope
and the resurrection
of the dead
that I'm on trial.
It is electrifying.
There is nothing
more divisive
and more dangerous
than he can say
in a room full
of religious zealots.
Half of the people
believed in the miraculous.
They believed in angels
and demons
and resurrection
and supernatural.
And the other half
did not believe
in any of that stuff.
And they forget
for a moment
that they are after Paul
and all of a sudden
they go at each other.
I was in the Shanachie pub
once outside
Ealing Broadway.
It's a remarkable place.
I was meeting,
I was late,
I was early for a meeting
so I went in there
and I was by the bar
and suddenly,
I don't know what happened
but a bar fight broke out.
And so I'm standing there
with my drink at the bar
and there are punches
being thrown
and I'm right in the middle of it.
I kind of joined it.
No, I didn't join it.
But there were stools,
there were broken windows,
there was no way out.
That's the scene here.
It's all kicking off.
It's like a wild west scene.
Tables flung over,
chairs get thrown,
they're trying actually
to kill each other.
And Paul's in the middle
of the chaos
and then the sheriff comes in,
he drags Paul
out of it
thinking he's going
to be ripped to pieces.
You might think
it's some kind of
clever tactic for Paul
but that isn't the case
because in chapter 24
and verse 20 to 21
Paul expresses regret.
He says,
or else let these men
themselves say
what room doing
they found me
when I stood
before the council.
Other than this
one thing that I cried out
that it is with respect
to the resurrection
of the dead
that I'm on trial
before you this day.
They can't find
anything wrong with me
except that I made this claim.
Of course Paul isn't
wrong in what he said
but he knows
it was a mistake,
he knows it was a blunder,
he regrets it.
And in the midst of this
Paul is thrown back
into a jail cell.
What happens in Acts
when Paul goes to jail?
Start singing,
church start praying,
there's gospel triumph
but not in Acts 23.
Instead we see Paul,
this image of him
not saying anything.
How would he feel
in that prison?
Failure.
That's how he would have felt.
And I think this is
probably one of the
blackest moments
in Paul's life and ministry.
Two simple applications
I want to point out to you.
Number one,
the weakness
and the humanity
of Christian leaders.
it's easy to put ministers
and elders on a pedestal
and to think that
they don't make mistakes
and that everything
they say is right
and we know,
don't we,
you know that that's not true.
And I don't want to go
into great detail on this
but it is obvious
that leaders
fail.
And when your leaders fail
please don't treat them
like the Sadducees
and the Pharisees.
Don't hurl abuse at us,
I trust
that you will treat us
with grace
as we seek to treat you
with grace.
It's an encouragement to me
that Paul here blunders.
He gets it wrong.
He lets people down
and he makes mistakes.
The second application
I want to make on this
is that if you've not faced
black and bleak days
in your service of the Lord
they will come.
You will.
Those days will come
when you let the Lord down
and they will be hard.
At those moments
when you are so broken
and you are so shocked
by your own inability
to serve the Lord
that you don't know
what to do
and you break down.
Have you ever experienced that?
If you faithfully serve the Lord
those days will come.
I've experienced a few
of those times in my life.
I can think of a church plant
that we tried early on
in my ministry
as a denomination
and we raised
ridiculous amounts of money
to do this plant.
We spent enormous amounts
of effort to do it.
And after four years
no matter how hard we tried
it just couldn't strengthen.
It put an enormous strain
on the planter
and his marriage
and after four years
it collapsed.
I was at the meeting
where I had to say
we've got to stop.
I caught the tube home
and wept on the tube.
It was heartbreaking.
Everything that had been
put into it
people that had given
their lives to it
and it didn't take.
I can think of a situation
in one of our congregations
where I was asked to help
and my input
actually made things worse
and kept making things worse.
I'd gone Zoom calls
thinking I was going to help
and come off the Zoom call
having not helped.
There have been times
when you've put your life
in my hands
as it were
as a pastor
and I've sought to try
and help and serve you
and to see the gospel
put you back together
and it's been like
it's gone away from me
I've dropped the ball.
And you carry that weight.
And if you serve the Lord
those matters
those times will come.
The question is
how do you face those moments?
How will you deal
with such a thing?
When the words of Jesus
who says
my yoke is easy
and my burden is light
seem like the biggest lie ever
how will you face that moment?
Well that's my second point.
My second point is
well first point was
Paul hit the rocks
the second point is
the rock of ages
stands by.
Look at verse 11.
Standing by the rock of ages
Paul is at the bottom
of the emotional ditch
he's in one of the most
discouraging passages
of his life
and we come across
one of the most encouraging verses
in the whole of the book of Acts.
the following night
the Lord stood by him
and said
take courage
for as you've testified
to the facts about me
in Jerusalem
so you will also testify
in Rome.
He hears in that cell
the Lord
himself
speak to him.
The Lord speaks
and says
as you've testified
to me in Jerusalem
you've not failed
so you will testify
in Rome.
and the words
from his master
and Lord speak to him
though he's failed
in his own eyes
the Lord himself
gathers him up
and claims him
for his own.
And that's not
what we would do.
That's not what
the world does
is it?
When we fail
and we want to
abandon ourselves
and when we want to
hide in our ditch
what would the world do?
The world will abandon you.
It will cancel you.
But Jesus will not.
That is not the way
he works
but it gets even better
than that isn't it?
The Lord himself
stood near to Paul
when he spoke those words.
It wasn't a voice note.
It wasn't a text message.
The Lord himself
stood near.
He didn't send an angel
to stand near Paul.
The Lord himself
the maker of heaven
and earth
came and stood with Paul
in a stinking Roman jail.
The incarnated Lord
left heaven.
He who was born
in a stable
the incarnated Lord
who left heaven
and died on a cross
leaves heaven again
and comes to stand
by his servant.
He stands with him
in that mess.
It's amazing.
He stood near Paul.
When did he do that?
On that night
the following night
he needed to hear
those words the most.
That is when he came
not a week before
not a week after
not a month
down the line.
Not when everything
was going well
right in the ditch
is the moment
the Lord showed up
and gave Paul
the most encouraging words
he could ever have.
When he proved true
those words
I will never leave you
nor forsake you.
What a wonderful saviour
to Paul
and to us Jesuses.
Paul has stuffed up
and Jesus steps in
and claims him
afresh as his own.
You know the phrase
Dutch courage?
In the First World War
soldiers were given
rum rations twice a day
and the medical reason
was that the rum ration
would combat
the cold.
But it did another effect
for a cold and frozen soldier.
It didn't just warm
his temperature
but also it warmed
a soldier's heart
they said.
And maybe gave them
enough courage
to stand up
for what they needed to.
Because courage
in a man at war
can be a very powerful thing
can't it?
But Jesus doesn't want us
to rely on Dutch courage.
He doesn't want us
to take a sip of whiskey
and then we do something brave.
He asks us to listen
to his words this morning
which are this
take courage.
Take courage.
And the Lord Jesus
he is the source
of all Christian courage.
courage.
The Greek word
that Jesus uses here
is only ever used
by Jesus
in the New Testament.
In Matthew 9 verse 2
he speaks to a paralysed man
who's brought on a stretcher
to him
and he says
to that man
take heart
take courage.
It's the same word
as courage here.
Your sins have forgiven you.
In Matthew 9 verse 22
there's a woman
who's been bleeding
for 12 years
who touches his garment
and is healed
and Jesus says to her
take heart
take courage.
Daughter your faith
has made you well.
And when the disciples
are afraid
and they think
they see a ghost
walking past them
on the water
past their boat
Jesus calls out to them
and he says
take heart.
Take courage.
Do not be afraid.
And this word
take heart
take courage
uniquely belongs
to Jesus.
And he says to Paul
and to all believers
who are afraid
in moments of failure
and moments of doubt
courage.
take heart.
I'm with you.
And Christian courage
solely belongs
to Jesus
and it only comes
from Jesus.
And the application
is this.
Jesus
is not far
from any of you
who serve him today.
He's right beside you
when you fall
and when you fail.
Jesus does not
reject you.
He stands by you.
And he's with you
as it's not
how the world works.
It's not how
we would work.
It's certainly
not how idols work.
But it is the way
that Jesus works.
And that's why
Jesus can say to you
take up your cross
and follow me
which is the heaviest
burden that you can imagine.
And then he says to you
my hope,
my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.
And he's not saying to you
take up your cross
and if you drop it
I'm done with you.
It's over.
He says to me
I love you.
I will not leave you.
I will not forsake you.
When we come to the
Lord's table tonight
will you come?
Because what do you hear
at the Lord's table tonight?
You hear the words
I love you.
I will not leave you.
I will not forsake you.
I've died for you.
And you hear the Father say
you are my child forever
and whoever the Father
puts in my hand
no one can snatch away.
And so your security
and my security
as children of God
is not based on
what we've done
but on the fact
that he claims you
because of the cross
as his own.
Nothing,
nothing works this way.
Only the gospel.
And if today
you're hoping for anything else
for your future
or for your children
or for your family
or for your security
it will fail you.
I promise you
it will fail you.
I guarantee you it.
You trust in a partner.
You trust in a marriage.
It'll never give you
the satisfaction
that you need.
You trust in having children
and having a family.
It'll never be
what you want to do.
You think that the job
will give you
the security
and the image.
Money will do it for you.
It won't do it for you.
But Jesus will never fail you
even when you fail him.
He died for us
when we were at our worst.
He died for us
when we were as far away
from God as we could be
and he's not going to
let go of you.
And that's my story.
That's the story
of so many
in this congregation
this morning.
Because it's true
isn't it
that in those moments
when you've
you've messed up
the most
it's in those moments
where you break down
that it's in those moments
you discover
what grace really means.
And so hear him
say to you
this morning
take courage
I am with you.
So the first point is
Paul is smashed
to the rocks.
The second point is
Jesus the rock of ages
is standing with him
and the third point is
you can be carried
through the rocks.
Paul's words
in verse 11
just look down there
with me
they are
they are the easiest
thing to say
but then
look at the next verse
they're the most
wonderful words
verse 11
but then look at
verse 12
the next morning
some Jews
formed a conspiracy
and bound themselves
with an oath
that we will not
eat or drink
until they'd kill Paul.
There's 40 of them
involved in this plot
more than that
but they go to
the chief priests
and the elders
and they say
that they are making
a solemn oath
not to eat anything
until we've killed Paul.
It's a vicious mob
of religious fanatics.
Sanhedrin gets involved
at this point
so much for God's protection.
There's a young man
we don't know how old he is
he's a young man
he's actually Paul's nephew
Paul's sister's boy
he hears about the plot
how did he hear about it
we don't know
and he goes
and he takes the news
to Paul
and then Paul takes it
to the commander
and he listens to the plot
and then this amazing thing
happens verse 23
and he called unto him
two centurions
saying make ready
200 soldiers
to go to Caesarea
and horsemen throughout
three score and ten
and spearmen 200
at the third hour of the night
and provide them beasts
so that they may set
Paul on
and bring him safe
and to Felix the governor.
And it looks like
everything's going wrong
isn't it?
But God uses
this insignificant person
we don't know his age
we don't know his name
we don't know what he heard
a person who everyone else
has forgotten
in order to bring about
this great rescue for Paul
and he doesn't just use
this tiny insignificant nobody
he uses the might of Rome
as well
can you see that?
To rescue Paul
and not to just rescue Paul
to take Paul
from Jerusalem
to Rome
to the ends of the earth
do you remember the theme
of the book of Acts?
You'll be my witnesses
in Jerusalem
Judea, Samaria
and the ends of the earth
that is Rome
and so in this passage
which on one level
is so depressing
on the surface level
we see that everything
in the world of the universe
of the economy
of everything
is in the hands of God
and from the tiniest person
the youngest person
in our church
to the mightiest army
in the world
that they are nothing
but a tool
in the hands
of almighty God
to fulfil his purposes
in this world
Paul goes to bed
of failure
and he hears
the words of Jesus
and he wakes up
and is given
a kingly escort
all the way
to Governor Felix
he wakes up
in jail
he goes to bed
in a palace
the next night
carried through
the rocks
God will see it done
the application
is really simple
isn't it
God will see it done
maybe you've been taught
maybe you've heard this
where people say to you
God has a wonderful
plan for your life
you heard that?
God has a wonderful
plan for your life
and I think it's told
a bit disingenuously
really
and tragically
that is often told
as God doesn't want
you to suffer
that God doesn't want
you to go through
a difficult time
God wants you
to have an easy life
and that is
not true
it is a lie
because anyone
who reads the life
of Jesus
and who reads
the life of Paul
will know it's not true
but it's not that God
doesn't have a wonderful
plan for your life
God did have a wonderful
plan for Paul's life
it was a life of living
for his king
of making much of Jesus
in every situation
in adversity
and in riches
whatever opportunity
he had
whether it was in prison
or the palace
he proclaimed to Jesus
and there's no more
wonderful plan
for your life
than that
but that doesn't mean
that your life
will be easy
in fact
the promise is
your life will be hard
but it is a wonderful plan
that Jesus is with you
as you go through it
it's true isn't it
I don't know who said it
but you are immortal
until you've achieved
the purpose
for which God created you
it's a wonderful plan
and so in summary
we get smashed
against the rocks
it is inevitable
in Christian service
but in those places
you find
the rock of ages
standing closely by
and Jesus is able
to carry you
through the rocks
I've told you
this story before
but there's a little boy
who was taken
to a piano concert
to the great
Padarowski
in the States
little boy
he was a bit bored
before the start
of the concert
kind of went off
from his mum
and he managed to find
a way onto the stage
where he's oblivious
to all the crowds
that are around him
he sits on the piano stool
the grand piano
and he starts to play
chopstick
on a very fancy piano
he's not playing it
very well
and the crowd
initially thinks
it's really cute
but after a few moments
they get a bit bored
and unruly
and they're thinking
to himself
where's this guy's mother
what's his mother
doing
and she's
hiding away
totally ashamed
in her seat
until the great
composer Padarowski
hears
chopsticks being played
he hears the crowds
booing
and he throws on his cloak
as quickly as possible
the great pianist
runs out onto the stage
he sees the boy
playing
and he leans over him
and he starts to play
a melody
on either side of him
he whispers
in the boy's ear
keep going my child
don't quit
keep playing
don't quit
I'm with you
it's a wonderful story
isn't it
it's a preacher story
so I don't even know
whether it's true
I want it to be true
alright
but it was
and so we trust
in Jesus
this morning
we know Jesus
and we all have a tune
to play
and we're tinkering
away at the piano
and often it feels
like we're playing
chopsticks badly
but we have a
saviour lord
who's filling in the notes
who's making
it beautiful
who whispers
in your ear
this morning
and at his table
tonight
keep going
my child
don't quit
keep going
I'm with you
I'm right by your side
do not give up
keep going
we'll make it
the beginning
of the story
sermon
I told you a story
about Dr. William Leslie
I didn't end very well
for him
but in 2010
a team of missionaries
went to the Congo
and Angola
to share the gospel
for what they believed
was the first time
they thought these people
had never heard the gospel
before
and what did they find
this is what they said
when we got there
we found a network
of reproducing churches
throughout the jungle
each village
had its own gospel choir
though they wouldn't
call it that
they wrote their own songs
and they would have
sing-offs
from village to village
they found a church
in each of the eight
villages they visited
scattered across
34 miles
they even found
a 1000 seat stone
built by hand
cathedral
in one of the villages
they learnt that this church
got so crowded
in the 1980s
with people
walking miles
to attend
it started a church
planting movement
and it spread
to the surrounding villages
apparently Dr. Leslie
crossed the great
river Kualu
he spent months
travelling throughout
the jungle
and he would teach
the bible
he taught the tribal
children how to read
and write
he told them
about the importance
of education
he taught them
bible stories
Dr. Leslie
started the first
organised education
in those villages
took some digging
by the team
in the states
to find out
who Dr. Leslie
was
they only knew
one of his names
and they didn't know
whether it was
his first name
or his last name
they only knew
the years
that he was there
and that he was
a baptist
by kind of
theological conviction
they discovered
that he was
Dr. William Leslie
who died
in 1984
in 1939
without knowing
any of the results
but William Leslie
closed his eyes
in this life
and he opened
them in glory
with Jesus
standing beside him
and he discovered
didn't he
what Christ
can do
when we take courage
with him
standing by our side
keep going
my child
don't quit
I'm right here
with you
let's pray